Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-02-23

contribution to the literature of the coun
try. To make only an extract would fail
to intern those who do not read that infiu.
entail journal of the scope and estimate
placed upon his labors. In giving the en-
tire article we furnish his countymen with
another-and from very high quarter
evidence of the interest our history pos
sesses, and the estimate entertained OF
his ability and the gratitude he has
merited
''The debt of the coming generation te
the local historian of our present na:iona
epoch is matter the more heartily to be
appreciated, year by year. Had cur fore
fathers but exerted themselves in similar
literary channels, how simplified and salts
factory to day would be the course in vari
GUS branches of historical research, and
how much elucidated doubts that must re-
main undetermined. To make the most
acceptable local chronicle-that is, one
which is genuinely such-there must be
done, hid and not hid, SO that the genera
readers interest is awakened and stimu-
lated as he passes from page to page and
choice and disposal of material, besides a
finished literary faculty to handle the cpl
sodes. One man can write the story of a
brawl between two carriers in a way to stil
the blood of a SCARED general and another
cannot tell the tale of Waterloo or Luck
now without dulness sitting on his pen
holder and apparently bearing down with
all her familiar avoirdupois.
III the conditions for an ahSOrhinOIy
interesting volume were in the hands of Mr.
Joseph Addison Waddell, of Virginia,
whose "Annals of Augusta County" lie
| before US. They represent labor of love
aud of years which has wrought his mate
rails into one of the most acceptable rec
elds of its nature that the press has lately
given us. Only the man Of leisure AND
taste can prepare and issue such volume.
As to the neighb0rhood, Augusta county
shows it's exciting pre- Colonial, Colonial,
Revolutionary and post Revolutionary his
! tory. Famous names in the State and in
the South were those OF her sons. Scenes
of dramatic power, second to hardly any in
our American development, occurred with
in her borders. The growth of her people,
generation by generation, socially, politi.
cally and in every other direction, unfolds
singular curious chapters of life, indiyidn-
allties and occurrences of distinction. AND
| to crown all, and sum up the noble Ole
county's story, the red tide of the Civil
War rose up about it aud surgsd into hel
highways and by-ways, to fill up the
chalice of sectional experience.
| Such are the foundations of these "An
nals,' at once complete without being
needlessiy minute, told with the quiet ele
gance and force of practiced scholar, ant
sure of a cordial reception wherever me t. =
Bits of striking biography and odd person
ality, strange domestic anecdotes succeed
each other to embellish or render more ell
tertaining the progress Of the narrative
Pages in which we hear the hum of thu
distaff, or the warwhoop of the savage, o
the cry of the Continental skirmisher, o
seem to see the flash of the bayonets born
by Northern OF Southern sodiery, com,
close on one another. To catalogue tn,
incidents here collected would be Difficult
and too long task. These ''Annals" maxi
a book TO be read alike by the crate il
New England or the light-wood blaze o
Georgia. The political views of the write
are carefully subordinated, again ant
again, where they might have been ex
pressed sharply and unpleasantly, ant
chiefly in the remarkable DIARY" of tn
Civil War, printed in the volume, do unpre
meditated phrases slip from his pen 20
rather did they slip long ago. to show tina
be was Firginian who watched for inielli
gence of the Gray army and not for new
from the Blue.
In course of the work, Mr.. Waddell ha
availed himself of an ample variety Of re
sources, in the way of public and privat
collections and documents, and, as w
stated above, its condensation, is particu
larly felicitous feature. Mr.. Waddell hs
evidently known exactly what to leave eul
Altogether it must be classed among th
local records we have met that we ar
most glad to set down as finished and ser
forth and the citizens of the writer's Star
owe him debt of gratitude of which the
will be reminded over and over again whe
in their libraries"
CHANGING to observe some of til
private correspondence relating to the "Ar
nails of Augusta" received from persons
distant sections of the couatry somewhs
undue privilege was taken with 1t. One,
gentleman Of great legal ability and iIas
ence writes "You will see that being d.
scended from one of Augustus earliet
| settlers, your narrative had fer me, loo
as well as general interest. l do ne
know when l have read book that b.
given me more pleasure, and l congratulate
you upon your success, both as to style an
substance"
The ancestor to whom the writer refer
was Gabriel Jones sketched in the "Annals.
He was appointed prosecuting attorney
174G. An original portrait Of the eeeer
tic old lawyer was preserved by his d.
scendants and is now in Louisville, Ky.
Another correspondent, who has write
the history of western State, thanks NJ
Waddell "for his original and valuable an
timely contribution to western local hi
tory"